Official numbers show historic turnout for CT presidential primaries

Data Editor

The overall turnout for the presidential primaries in April was higher than Connecticut has seen in at least 40 years.

This year saw a historic turnout among Republicans, according to the recently released Statement of the Vote from the Office of the Secretary of the State.

Nearly half of all registered Republicans in Connecticut participated in the primary election. The next-highest participation rate was 43 percent in 1980, when President Ronald Reagan ran.

Donald Trump swept the votes in all of Connecticut’s congressional districts.

Republican presidential primary results

Congressional District

Donald Trump

John Kasich

Ted Cruz

Ben Carson

Uncommitted

1

20,842

10,981

4,500

313

440

2

27,370

12,937

5,976

444

565

3

21,042

7,387

4,123

271

479

4

25,347

17,065

4,693

270

651

5

28,883

12,133

5,686

433

541

Total

123,484

60,503

24,978

1,731

2,676

Office of the Secretary of State

The high-water mark for Democrats remains the 2008 primary in which future President Barack Obama became the nominee. More than 51 percent of registered Democrats participated in that primary.

However, 2016 appears to be the second-highest turnout in decades at 41 percent.

Hillary Clinton won three of the congressional districts in Connecticut while Bernie Sanders won two. Because neither won more than 50 percent, delegates were assigned proportionately.

Sanders will enter the Democratic Convention with 27 of Connecticut’s pledged delegates compared to Clinton’s 28. They will be joined by 16 “superdelegates” – members of Congress, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and and other party dignitaries – 15 of whom support Clinton.

Andrew is a data editor at TrendCT.org and the Connecticut Mirror. He teaches data visualization at Central Connecticut State University as well intro to data journalism at Wesleyan University as a Koeppel Fellow.
He was a founding producer of The Boston Globe's Data Desk where he used a variety of methods to visualize or tell stories with data. Andrew also was an online producer at The Virginian-Pilot and a staff writer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He’s a Metpro Fellow, a Chips Quinn Scholar, and a graduate of the University of Texas.